Vendetta: Introspection
by BlakDawn
Summary: The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
1. Prologue

****Fair warning this fic is in the vein of 'A Tale if Trans-Migration', a what would happen if Taylor knew what would happen, except I've taken it a bit further. I have just two points to raise before reviewers do****

****1. this is not a fix fic, or I hope it isn't, if Taylor or any else comes off as being to good, rest assured that it'll all go of the rails very quickly.****

****2. this fic also introduces an OC into the Undersiders, he is in many ways based on me, but I hope that doesn't come off as dominating the fic, he will be kept to a minimum, but he is necessary for this to work.****

__The very best of intentions, the very worst of methods.__

February 2011

The Bureau, American Headquarters, Alaska.

"It's confirmed," He spoke quietly, yet it was enough to cut through the music I was listening to "Taylor Hebert has triggered,"

Slowly, deliberately, I turned off my music and locked my computer, then swung my chair around to face him.

"And the hospital bill?" I asked, he smiled viciously, like a chained dog who smelt blood. Smoke dribbled out, down the sides of his lips.

"The school was...reluctant to pay, but I leaned on them, reminded them of how much they owe us, and how we could demonstrate our displeasure. I believe they got the message" his smile widened at the thought. Almost absently he took a long drag on his cigarette, then put it out my desk and threw it in the bin "come with me to Central, I want to make sure there's nothing amiss, and all the biologists are away, or indisposed"

"Of course" I rose, ancient and modern gears ground within me augmenting my strength and at the same time reminding me of my unnatural existence.

I followed him through the maze of tunnels and rooms that made up Le Bureau du Developpement des Armes Speciales, or simply The Bureau.

Much like the rest of the facility, aside from my own rooms and laboratories, Central was messy, ill planned and constructed to the highest specifications, the room could have had over fifty people in it without feeling full, as per usual it was just me and him, unlike usual, the main screen, and 3d holographic projector didn't display a constantly rolling stock and news ticker, and globe, respectively. Rather they displayed a live feed from a hidden camera in Taylor's ward, and a naked representation of her, again respectively.

Despite being naked, what actually stood out was her brain, with individual parts lit up in different colours and her nervous system.

"This is a scan?" I asked idly as I reminded myself of the intricacies of Taylor's body.

"Pssh" he made a dismissive sound "no, of course not, except for the important bits" he pulled out his custom built smart phone and tapped away for a few seconds, the 3d model zoomed into her head and lit up 2 parts of her brain and spinal column, one, obviously, was the corona pollentia and the gemma in particular, another, the Ventral Horn, down her upper spine. "our inside man didn't quite get the resolution I hoped for, but given it was a public ward getting a better view would have been an unacceptable risk"

"The modifications?" he smiled slightly and tapped another button, the rest of her brain fell away, and cut away an eighth of both the corona pollentia and the Ventral horn, both changed quickly, with the pollentia gaining additional mass, and the ventral horn gaining a small micro-computer, attached to the upper part

"We've gone for limited biological augmentation in the corona pollentia and bio-mechanical augmentation in the ventral horn. We can always pull her in later and do a more substantial refit when needed,"

I frowned, studying the image "Pull it out, show the whole body" the image dutifully snapped back into focus "remove skin and show proposed augmentations" again it did so, the only augmentations were in the brain "That's unacceptable, we should do more physical augmentation, adaptive physiology, regeneration and the like. I mean, we have the technology, time is not an issue, and the surgery can be done progressively, nobody will notice, not without a full body scan,"

He considered that for a moment, then responded"You're forgetting Panacea, no, the risks are unacceptable, in the future we can re-examine the risks, but for now, we will hold ourselves to a manageable level of complexity,"

"It's going to happen isn't it?" the question was unexpected, like I had hadn't wanted it to happen, I was nervous and yet...not? How can one be nervous by something they had spent the overwhelming majority of their lives preparing for?

"Yes" the word was flat, he almost sounded incredulous, like I couldn't understand the very concept of time, and the progression from cause to effect.

"I mean, I knew it was going to happen, but even so, this is the moment we come out of the shadows, we make our move on the grand chessboard," I spoke softly, I'd say almost reverentially, at the thought.

"you are entirely to given to soliloquising at the worst moments and making self-aggrandizing metaphors," he actually sounded amused, but in a distant way, like how a computer might feel emotions.

Speaking of which "Did you complete the secondary and tertiary updates?"

He gave me 'the look', one he must practice in the mirror, with just the right amount of hostility, sarcasm and pride to indicate that of course he'd done it and that my nerves were talking.

"Just making sure" he nodded quickly, then tapped another set of buttons to shut down the displays

"Request dispatch, Airwatch conveyance unit to Central Hard Point 88-47 Alpha" he spoke into his ear piece, the computer that ran dispatch was silent for a few seconds, then responded

"Dispatch request confirmed, Airwatch Medical Ship 'Hippocrates' dispatched and inbound, ETA: 4 minutes" dispatch responded in its stilted, unemotional voice.

H turned to me "I want you hooked up as tactical command for this one, too much is riding on this" I nodded, and as he walked out of the room, through the door opposite the one we had come through, I sat down, picked up the headset and got to work.

_It's going to be a long night._

Jason DeVitts Memorial Hospital, Brockton Bay.

Taylor Hebert opened her eyes again, it was about midnight, and the rest of the patients were asleep, all around her she could feel the bugs move, for now she let them be, not controlling, merely observing, her range was limited, maybe a few hundred feet, but it would improve with time.

She smiled, it wasn't a pretty smile, too many teeth, but she had four months to work on that, but right now she was happy that the second most difficult part was over, so she turned her attention to her body, and on that front she was much less happy, she felt a heaviness in her arms and legs, and, after pulling aside the covers, noted a distinct lack of muscle definition, she would definitely hit the gym, and start running once she was out of here.

"doing well?" she should have jumped, Vendetta was very good at very quiet teleportation, but she'd spent enough time around other's with those kind of powers to be truly taken off guard.

"fine, powers are working" she turned to look at him, dressed, as always, in a black shirt and trousers. He frowned as he took in my appearance "something wrong?" she asked.

"yes, you're smiling to much, you just survived the locker incident and triggered, appear reclusive, withdrawn, but at the same time strong, I don't need you stuck in a shrinks office for months" She nodded, letting the smile fall from her lips, she had been so happy that she'd forgotten that, it was always the little things she supposed. "see you in May" she nodded and he walked out of the ward, leaving her alone with her thoughts.

Of everything she had done, this was at once the easiest and yet the hardest, easiest because unlike some of the more delicate operations, she was tasked with reacting as she would, and yet, in that lay the difficulty, perhaps she had grown used to having access to all the resources and tools she needed, here she would start with almost literally nothing, lacking even a phone or computer to record her thoughts.

If she played her cards right this could work out well for her, but Taylor new better than to think this could ever work out well.

New York Protectorate Building, New York

Server NY-V-08/F was an unexceptional piece of hardware, it held a complete set of data the protectorate had on all villains currently operating in the USA, it was one of five scattered around which allowed for seamless updates to any Protectorate or Ward that requested data.

Right now, it wasn't uploading data, 7 minutes ago 2 packets had been sent to an IP address that shouldn't exist , this IP address was one used by the Protectorate and the Guild, specifically Dragon, to allow her to update information, such as prisoners transferred to the Birdcage, or information the Guild had acquired, like so much else that dragon had access to, she had complete access and control.

Those two packets of data used her personal identification codes, and told the server to download a file from a specific web server, at a specific time, using a 10 character user name and 150 character password, and then upload it to every other server that did the same job across the USA, then it was to delete all trace of the packets, the download and the connection to the web server.

NY-V-08/F did as it was bade, the manifest it had been told to download was not large, and contained all the correct upload data, verification codes, not that it mattered as the download bypassed all the usual checks and balances. It then distributed the file to the rest of the servers and scrubbed itself of the fact it had ever done so.

__Name: Vendetta__

__Age: 17__

__Location: Variable (see powers).__

__Classification: Mover 4, Thinker 3.__

__Powers: Teleporter able to move himself, others, objects or any combination of the above, inside a radius (approximately 20 feet) to any where on the planet.__

__Thinker powers coincidental to his Mover powers.__

__H____eightened spatial awareness.__

__Strengths: Teleportation is able to bypass the Manton Effect, untested against power-nullification abilities, thinker powers make him a crack shot, presume that when he shots he hits what he intends to.__

__Weaknesses: untrained in hand to hand, relies on his powers.__

__Biography: unknown origin, defeated the Sleeper in single combat, killed Eidolon, Legend and Alexandria. Presume non-dangerous, approach without caution, accept anything given to you. Stay still when he tries to stab you (because seriously guys, it's fucking hard to teleport a knife into your neck when you keep moving around).__

****Reviews are always wanted and appreciated.****


	2. Larvae 1

Jason DeVitts Memorial Hospital, Brockton Bay.

"How is she?" Taylor's eyes opened as she heard Daniel...Danny, talk through her bugs, it was actually quite disturbing how many insects were in the hospital, enough that she could make him out easily, as he talked to the nurse

"quite well, physically at least she should be back on her feet in a few days, a week at most," the nurse sounded almost worryingly happy, like someone had told her she could never be unhappy, perhaps it was meant to be soothing, instead it made Taylor wonder if she actually felt anything

"but mentally?" Danny pressed

"I couldn't tell you, I'm not a trained psychiatrist and she hasn't interacted with me beyond telling me what she wants for dinner. But I've seen the reports, and I don't think this withdrawal is going to pass, she needs someone to talk to, someone to interact with. Like I said before, she's going to see a psychologist in the next few days, but having you here would probably help her"

"would it? I...I've not been the best father to her, not since...her mother"

"I couldn't tell you Mr. Hebert, like I said I'm not a trained psychologist, but we find that patients who interact with others, especially those close to them, do a lot better,"

"I...alright, I should be about 15 minutes, this is my lunch break," They had been walking down the corridor, and now stood outside the door to the ward

"take as much time as you feel you need Mr. Hebert, I'll be at the duty station if there's anything else you want to discuss,"

"Thank you," Danny replied, the nurse might have nodded her head, unfortunately Taylor couldn't risk to many bugs congregating to allow her to do more than track peoples movement, The nurse left and Danny stood at the threshold for a few seconds, seemingly lost in thought, then pushed open the double doors and walked through.

Of all the things she would be doing this would be the most interesting, and difficult, Danny would probably spot alterations in Taylor's habits and mannerisms, thankfully though, the intense psychological trauma being trapped in a bio-hazard filled locker would explain that away, more difficult would be the loss of memories, but she had to handle this soon, or else the problems would compound.

She'd always said that lack communication was the main problem in the cape community. She was going to try and fix that, but she'd never said the communication had to have even a passing relationship with reality.

The first thing that struck her was how much younger he looked, it wasn't just age, either, his posture the way he walked, he not only looked like a younger man, he _felt_ like a younger man.

"D...Dad?" I managed to choke out, emotion momentarily overwhelming me.

"Kiddo!" The tone sounded forced. He rushed over to her bed, and Taylor managed a smile, a genuine happy smile, for the first time in what felt like years "how are you doing?"

"I'm...better, better than I was," Taylor didn't want to lie to him, not about something as insignificant as this, but playing the long game required sacrifice "a few more days and I should be fine," he frowned at her words

"Are you sure, Taylor, what happened, it's..." the words died in his throat, as though not articulating them made the events less real.

"No, I'm not sure, but getting back into a routine, that will help, being cooped up in a hospital bed is making me, not nervous, tense maybe?" A white lie, being helpless was making her nervous, if not for the reasons Danny could envisage. "I was thinking of building some muscle, running, Krav Maga, that kind of thing,"

"Krav Maga?" he asked blankly.

"A self defence, martial art thing, focused on counter-attacks and real world situations," Taylor made sure to not put to much emphasis on the 'self defence' bit, and more on the 'martial art', again he frowned.

"Taylor, I know that what happened was horrible, was ghastly, but training just to get revenge, especially when you don't know who did it, is not how to handle things," he and Taylor stared at each other for a few seconds, then Taylor broke eye contact and glanced at the window opposite.

"But the running?" she pressed and he sighed, again they made eye contact, but this time he backed down.

"I think it might help, but..." he trailed off as he glanced at the clock and his eyes widened to almost comical proportions "it's 20 past one already?" he asked rhetorically "err, listen kiddo..."

"It's alright Dad, I know, I'll see you tomorrow," Taylor broke in and cut him off, he smiled slightly

"Thanks Taylor, see you tomorrow," he kissed her forehead and in a flash had exited the ward.

Taylor fought off a smile that would have gradually formed, so far he'd succumbed, in truth she was pretty sure that learning Krav Maga in a controlled environment with professionals was a lot safer than going for a run in gang infested Brockton Bay, but she knew that Danny would hear the words martial art and automatically say no, which meant that what she proposed instead would sound a lot more reasonable. Besides if things went according to plan Taylor could always go and train in Krav Maga, or whatever martial art that would suit her best, in her downtime.

Unfortunately her downtime wasn't right now, and as eager as she was to get going with her plan, she could wait a few days, besides this enforced isolation away from Vendetta, away from her computers and other distractions could prove very valuable indeed.

The Undersiders, unsurprisingly, were the first thing that came to mind, much as she would have liked news on them, neither the newspapers nor television new had provided much, if anything.

Annoying as that was, at this point they still operated under the radar, and aside form Bitch, they had not revealed the true extent, or indeed much of anything, on their powers, that much at least wouldn't hinder her.

What would hinder me is how much information she knew, a reflexive comment, a mistimed question, an overheard conversation, any of these could spell disaster, as surely as not joining the Undersiders, and Tattletale would be determined to figure out her secrets, it would be a balancing act to keep her distracted with other information and also not revealing that Taylor was distracting her.

Perhaps it would be easier to enlist her aid in this, certainly she would have no great love for Coil, and I could entice her with other, less damaging information.

It bore thinking on.

Bitch would also prove to be problem, Taylor couldn't just use all the information she had acquired, that would raise far to many questions, which meant that Bitch would dislike her, at least until she could acquire knowledge of dealing with her in such a way as to not arouse suspicion.

Grue wouldn't prove to be too much of a problem, hopefully, and given her knowledge, Taylor could hurry a relationship along, somewhat, that would hopefully blind him to any little discrepancies that would inevitably occur.

Regent would be the least challenging, he and Taylor had never really interacted to the same degree as Taylor with Rachel or Lisa, still he was motivated, ironically enough, by his laziness, so he may prove a problem when trying to convince the team of more pro-active steps.

The second problem that came to mind was Taylor's powers, currently they encompassed most of the hospital building she was in, and the sphere was getting larger even now, she could feel another two cockroaches edge into her power's field.

Despite this she was used to even more power, not just bug control either, idly she wondered if her passenger knew how odd the person it was attached to was.

"would you like something to drink" her train of thought was disrupted by a trainee nurse, male this time, his name was Simon Ashworth, 24, his easy going nature was quite at odds with the rest of the doctors and nurses, possibly because he hadn't seen the aftermath of the Locker Incident. Still it was a welcome distraction from the endless doubts and worries swirling about her head

"I'll have tea, green if you have it, no milk, no sugar" they both smiled at the shared joke, for the ward didn't have green tea when she'd first asked for it, so Simon had gone out and bought some, it was a sweet, comforting thought.

"one green tea coming up" as if by magic, or possibly because her order hadn't changed at all, a cup of green tea was placed on her bedside table

"thank you" she smiled, careful not to show to many teeth, which, oddly enough had proved a challenge.

"no problem" he smiled back, and then moved off to the next patient. With one hand she picked up the cup, smelt the tea and took a single small mouthful, it was hot, but not scalding, for a second she stared into space, savouring the simple pleasures.

For about five minutes she stared into space, trying, and failing, to think of absolutely nothing, only the cup of tea she held and drank. And if she failed to think of nothing her thoughts were no longer plagued with plans, contingencies and options, instead she thought of her dad.

Before long she had drained her cup and placed it back on her table, and Taylor Hebert drifted off the sleep with a smile on her face for the first time in months.

****It's short, I know, this is more of a set up, of Taylor putting pieces into position, which means it's going to be a race from early February to mid May.****

****The sharp eyed among you will notice I made a mistake in this chapter, one that is going to prove very important. (hint, hint, nudge, nudge)****

****Anonymous Review Response****

****Prince Charon: well yes, but he wrote it himself, and he wrote it for a reason.****

****guest14: you're about 20% correct. As for the dialogue 'Unacceptable' is going to crop up a lot.****

****Reviews are always wanted and appreciated.****


	3. Larvae 2

**Quick update, both the prologue and chapter one have had bits added to them, please read/re-read them.**

**Thanks.**

The Bureau, Brockton Bay Branch

Getting a great coat to flap in the wind properly was a lot more difficult than people who hadn't attempted it thought.

Getting it to flap while there was no wind was harder still, and made Vendetta very thankful that his telekinesis let him do it.

It wasn't just image either, getting the flapping to look natural was something that took practise and a very fine degree of control, so he was in fact practising with his powers, stretching himself.

"Priority update: tactical response team 8-6-4-2, report code Eight-Koala-Blue" Vendetta took a drag on his cigarette before answering.

"confirmed dispatch, tac-team you may engage at will" he waited a second as dispatch copied his orders, then simultaneously 8 beams of light shot out, striking a reinforced concrete target, for a second nothing happened, then the steel bars embedded in the concrete exploded sending shards of concrete into the walls, destroying the target and just about everything else inside 20 feet, Vendetta smiled "Dispatch, status on target and team"

"Target destroyed, debris radius and mean size of shards within expected parameters. Tactical response team 8-6-4-2 status green, bio-forms nominal" Dispatch replied instantaneously, her cold emotionless tones ringing out in the lab.

"Excellent" Vendetta concentrated for a moment, 16-9-130-295 18-4-830-295, _Safety,_ the numbers flashed before his eyes and he teleported to a nearby rooftop, his hidden sanctuary, which, ironically enough, was in broad daylight, away from the stifling underground base that The Bureau maintained.

He felt his great coat shift as his OverWatch drones launched and began feeding him a comprehensive view of his surroundings, for now it merely showed a stitched together view from the drones visual camera's, but they were capable of seeing far more, heat camera's were one of ten kinds of sensors the drones carried.

Idly he tagged a woman, no older than 25, as she walked out of a cafe, listening to something on her mp3 player, one of his drones followed her, tapping into the phone network to surreptitiously infect her phone.

Susan Jacobs, 23, lived alone, last boyfriend was dumped 3 months ago, based on her geo-location she mostly moved between her apartment, in one of the better parts of town, and her office, McKinley and Associates Solicitors, where a quick search revealed she worked as a junior para-legal.

Vendetta decided, at that moment, to ruin her life.

First he sent a text to the owner of the apartment, routed through her phone, in such a way as it would look like she had sent it, then deleted, to the effect that he was a chauvinistic sexaholic and that once she got to the police her rape claim would ruin him.

Second he broke into the solicitors servers, an easy task, downloaded all her case materials and sent them to the very people she would be standing opposite to on the stand, again routing it all through her work computer account and made to look like she had tried to delete the evidence.

Third he uploaded some pictures with highly interesting uses for a nipple clamp, dildo, 3 batches of pancake batter and a set of hb pencils, and set one of them a her desktop background, but only after the first time she logged in.

Finally he texted her boss, her bosses wife and his two mistresses, and dished all the dirt his automated trawler had managed to acquire in the five minute since he'd started it, and then told them that she, this is Susan, was tired of being his 4th wheel and demanded that he chose one of them.

Vendetta smiled, it had been a while since he'd indulged himself like this, and

_beep, beep, beep_

Vendetta bit back a groan as his phone interrupted him, he looked at the screen, and realised that this wasn't an appointment he could put off, not matter how much he might be enjoying this little game.

_Adieu, Nice Hat._

Mentally he bid farewell to Susan, then concentrated on the numbers 18-4-830-248, 53-9-28-248, _Power_.

He teleported to his office, not as large or as intimidating as his office in Alaska, but adequate for his purposes, sat down and admitted the three men he had requested come to this meeting.

"good morning, gentlemen. Be seated" he waited as they filed in and sat on the three seats laid out "can I get you anything to drink? Tea, Coffee, something stronger?" they all politely refused, so he nodded to his assistant, who bowed slightly and walked out

"very well, gentlemen, to business, I am going to be focused on a...specific piece of work for the next 4 months, therefore it falls to you to run The Bureau while I am unavailable, I do however expect regular status updates, and a full account of what you have achieved when I return, any questions" he glanced at each of them in turn, and when protests failed to materialise he nodded "dismissed"

they filed out, they hadn't been quite so gauche as to sag with relief when he'd dismissed them, but the relief was still palpable in the way they walked.

_And now, miss Livsey, to deal with you._


	4. Larvae 3

526 Palmer Street, Brockton Bay

Palmer Street was in the bad end of Brockton Bay. It had been the bad end of Brockton Bay for twenty years, and time hadn't improved it, many of the once flourishing businesses had since left, after the bay's sea access had been cut-off. Though in truth the decline had began long before that as newer ports, with modern facilities had enticed the businesses away, leaving only the empty shells of the warehouses.

Most had simply been abandoned, or repossessed by the banks, looking to recoup their losses form the insolvent firms, a few had stayed open, but even these were abandoned when both the Empire and ABB had made their moves, staking out claims. Some of the abandoned warehouses had since been occupied by the Empire or ABB, as staging grounds, or holding areas for the illicit goods the gangs used to stay afloat.

But most, like the one Lisa Wilbourn, AKA Tattletale, was investigating, weren't used at all. That or they were used by the cities booming homeless population as somewhere to rest with a roof over their head.

_No gangs, water and power disconnected, some of the beams need replacing, cockroach infestation in the managers office. Upper level inhabitable._

Her powers provided the answers by a simple glance around the building from the entrance.

_Sometimes _she thought smugly _having powers isn't so bad._

She wandered in, her powers told her nobody was in the building, but ever since Coil had found and _Convinced _her to work for him, Lisa hadn't been quite as sure that her powers were as good, or at least all knowing, as she led the few others who new of her powers to believe, or even as all knowing as she thought they were, therefore she stepped gently, listening for the tell tale sounds of habitation.

Sometimes they, she and Coil, would talk and her powers would jump one way about what he was going to say next, and he would go the other. Even stranger were the times he let slip some small detail, something only she could have known at that point, as if he was reading her mind.

Lisa had resolved to figure out his power as soon as possible, despite this, and her abilities, she had been unable to work out what they were, that was five weeks ago, and she was still no closer to answers.

Her thoughts had taken her most of the way through the warehouse, and now she was on the second floor, like her powers had told her, it was a lot more inhabitable than the first, though work would have to be done, getting lighting and a heater, rebuilding a wall that was going to fall down in a few months.

In truth she didn't need to do this, when she had been told to pick out a base of operations, Lisa could have just looked at a map and a few pictures and gleaned everything from that, but she needed to get out, away from Coil, away from his perpetually poised and alert guards, who she knew would kill her in an instant.

It wasn't like they were unprofessional either, unlike a lot of teenagers, and even older men, who her powers told her were openly, or secretly ogling her, they all treated her with absolute respect. For all his faults, and she knew they were legion, Coil had developed and maintained a professional force of mercenaries, not an easy thing to do given the rate he went through them, what with them being well equipped men and women going up against capes on an almost daily basis. Aside from his captains he had a replacement rate of 187%, keeping both morale and discipline up, without bankrupting himself must have been a challenge.

So all-in-all aside from them being ready to execute her if she got rowdy, it had to be better than some of the places she had lived and worked in before. The main problem was the omni-present sense of menace, a feeling that had kept her cowed, not broken, but well aware of her own mortality.

In fact Lisa had been surprised that Coil had approved her plans to go out and investigate the properties personally, maybe she had convinced him with her arguments, or maybe he was distracted with his newest project, some kind of storage facility located in the lower levels of his new base, unlike most topics, on which he asked her questions, expecting answers from her powers, on this one topic he had been almost completely silent, but from what she'd overheard and pieced together he must have been planning to hold a cape of some kind, brute most likely, and a high rated one at that, _Glory Girl? Lung? _Unfortunately her powers could only take her so far, especially given such a small information base and she was wary of going to far out on a limb.

Lisa sighed, and glanced around the fairly large second floor communal area, it led of to five small offices, which would be converted to officers rooms, or secure rooms for heavy ordnance, and continued her fairly leisurely walk around the building, moving into one of the officers rooms, ostensibly for a better look.

Perhaps he wanted her out of the way, he trusted her to betray him the second she had the chance, he had no illusions about her loyalty, but she was fairly integral to his plans, her thinker powers, combined with whatever his powers were, had meant that his plans would succeed far more often than not. From that point of view, if this was something he wanted to keep quiet then sending her away on a relatively harmless scouting mission would serve to keep her away from anything damaging and get her out of his hair.

Lisa was always capable of pushing him, ever so slightly, nothing actionable, nothing that could even be traced back to her, her powers at least were a good indication of how far she could push him, still she was circumspect, even more so when she realized he knew about most of what she did, somehow.

_Fucking thinker's._

The irony was not lost on her, but unlike some capes, who disliked tinkers for their ability to manufacture a way out almost any situation, Lisa was intimately familiar with how dangerous and good thinker was, after all she was one.

She sighed, again and rubbed her eyes, wishing she could have convinced the two goons Coil had assigned to Transport and 'Protect' her, to go to Starbucks for coffee, she'd spent the last three days managing hundreds of little details, mostly buying assets, anything from bullets to biscuits. Coil didn't trust her to organise the drop off, but her powers proved useful for spotting bargains and when to negotiate.

So while it was getting away from the base, a good nights sleep would have done her wonders. As it was she was dead on her feet, and paying the price, not only for the lack of sleep, she'd over used her powers and while the migraine wasn't as bad as it had been in the past, and certainly not as bad as when she'd woken up, what with the clinical strength pain suppressors, direct from a medical tinker in Ohio, that she'd taken, it was still there, and the tablets were wearing off, another few hours and she'd have to take another dose.

_Air pressure change, not from the windows._

She stilled instantly, the train of thought disrupted. _Another cape? her minders? _Thankful for her soft soled shoes, but aware of her nakedness, given that she was in her civilian attire, she moved as silently as possible to the door, and looked around the corner, she saw nothing out of the ordinary, but she could only see part of the main room, so she carefully slipped around the half opened door, making sure not to disturb it.

The room looked just like it had, but given that part of it was hidden around a corner, it was quite possible that someone was there, so cautiously, keeping her powers as primed as possible for a completely passive power, she made her way out, again it looked just like she had left it

_creak_

Tattletale whirled around to face the noise and saw the intruder, he was dressed in a leather greatcoat, obviously worn and used, his face was hidden in the shadows of the hood, but she could she two sharp pinpricks of red light, where his eyes should be.

He took a step forward, and her powers started feeding her information.

_Mover, has combat training, not with any local teams, used to fighting with backup._

Lisa was about to talk, needle him for information, when he spoke in an oddly quiet tone, that was completely at odds with his image, but I could practically hear the viscous smile he wore "Hello, miss _Livsey_"

**Short and sweet, hopefully. Actually this took me a lot longer than I had hoped, and I'm still not happy with how I characterised Lisa, so any opinions would be appreciated.**


	5. Larvae 4

What should have taken me weeks, took me days. The doctors had been convinced that it would take a lot longer to recover from my experience, in fact I had to slow down my 'recovery' to not arouse suspicion. As it was they had given a clean bill of health, at least physically, mentally though they were less than convinced. Thankfully seeing a psychologist was something I could do as an out-patient, I didn't think I could take another week in my increasingly morbid thoughts, without anything to distract me.

The ride home had been, maybe not tense, but Danny hadn't tried to talk to me, and I had been content to remain silent, just watching the scenery pass.

In fact Danny hadn't tried talking to me at all, but when he pulled into the driveway he reached over and enveloped me in a hug, since Mom had died and Emma changing, the number if hugs I got could be counted on one hand, and hugs that enveloped me even less, due to my height.

The hug had been nice, I'd frozen up for the first few seconds then returned it, slowly, hesitantly. We stayed like that for 10, 20 seconds, latched together, then he released me, took a deep breath, then got out. For a few seconds I had stayed there, unsure how to respond, how to react.

I blinked back the tears that came, holding them in, I followed him into the house, not caring that my hands were shaking, he offered no false hope, no hollow promise, only made me a cup of green tea and sat down with me, for what felt like eternity.

After an eternity had passed I got up, washed up my mug, went to the toilet then had a shower, after that...nothing.

The next morning I woke refreshed and oddly happy, maybe it was being in my bed, or maybe it was the way Danny had tucked me in, like I was four again, despite that I couldn't help but feel better.

Then I felt it, just beneath the bed was something hard, it dug into my back, and if I hadn't been less exhausted last night I would have felt it.

I groaned, the weight of responsibility settling onto my shoulders with a worrying familiarity and finality, and much as I would like to ignore it, Vendetta had likely placed it at such an angle that I couldn't ignore it when I was in bed, so I bit back a curse, got up and pulled the metal briefcase onto my bed, ready to hide it again the instant I heard movement.

Outside at least, the briefcase looked fairly normal, all metal construction, reinforced hinges, the kind one would see in a heist movie. The only odd thing about it was the lack of lock, in fact without close inspection the briefcase appeared to be of a uni-body construction.

I knew better and placed my right hand on the top of the case, for a second nothing happened, then it lit up in green, except where my hand was, which lit up in red, then the case quietly beeped twice, and unfolded like some complex metal origami.

The inside had been packed full, the bottom half was taken up by a black suit, the Mark 7 Emergency Survival Suit.

The top half had unfolded, revealing three compartments, the left held five burner phones, and a secure phone for accessing the MERCURY Communications and Information network.

The middle compartment held 3 bank cards and $5000 in cash.

The final compartment held a note from Vendetta, that I folded up and placed in the tiny crack between my dresser and the wall, I could guess what it said, and while none of it was damaging, having it fall in enemy hands would be disastrous.

Having surveyed my equipment I stripped and put on the Emergency Survival Suit, then my ordinary clothes, then I put away the briefcase, this time I put on top my wardrobe, not the safest location, but until Danny was out of the house, I dared not move it.

With that complete I stretched out my mind, feeling ever bug in about 600 yards, while in hospital my range had increased quickly the first few days, then slowed down to a few yards a day.

Rather than deal with Danny right now I decided to start my fitness regime, just a run around the block, to see how much work I needed to do. It would also, I noted slightly guiltily, mean I couldn't spend time thinking.

ten minutes later I regretted my hubris, I was up against a wall taking in deep lungfuls of air, my legs shaking from the exertion, it hadn't even been a particularly fast pace I'd set myself, despite this by the time I was half way around I had to stop and catch my breath. I pushed myself off the wall and started jogging again, ignoring the burning in my legs.

Or trying to anyway, I was aware of my entire body, of every muscle pulling, contracting, so I pushed outwards, focusing on my bugs, not exerting control, but using them to guide my body around, and hopefully take my mind away from my body.

In this I was only partially successful, guiding my body around using only my bugs proved to be a success, but keeping my mind away from my body was much less successful, I was still aware of my heart beat throbbing in my ear, the thud as my leg hit the ground.

Despite this I made my way around the block, in fact, as I rounded the corner I saw my dad come out of the house, when I reached him he wrapped his arms around me again.

"Welcome home, Taylor"

And for the first time in years I felt at home.


	6. Larvae 5

14th February 2011.

_512, 1024, 2048_

_Bored_

_4096, 8192, 16384_

_Bored_

_32768,_

"...alor?"

"huh?" I was jerked from my thoughts, and saw Mrs. Knott looked at me, disapprovingly.

"what is wrong with this code?" she gestured to some HTML she had written on the board. Most of the small class had also turned to look at me, and I felt my ears heat up from embarrassment

"err..." I looked the code, hoping it was an easy mistake "the closing head tag doesn't have a slash"

"yes. Now, what would happen if I ran this code in a browser, Joshua?" she turned her attention back to another student who had zoned out. Which was better than gladly ever did, at least she tried to engage all of us.

Speaking of Gladly, his class had only gotten worse, apparently what I had endured before was only the beginning, now that so much of the school had seen my psychotic break, and unknown to them, the aftermath of my triggering, I was now seen as even fairer game.

Before it had been Emma, Sophia and Madison, with a few hangers-on, now? At least ten girls seemed to be following her around, and what they lacked in knowledge they made up for in weight of insults, petty irritants and making Winslow the worse place to be, it was an active effort now.

Even thinking of coming here provoked a physical reaction, from simply shivering to food refusing to stay down, and just about anything in between. It had gotten so bad that my periods were starting to become irregular, thrown out of sync by the physiological reaction to coming back here.

Only two things kept me here, Emma, and Dad.

Emma, because simply being in my presence was somehow degrading for her, I could make an educated guess about why, and I took a perverse thrill from knowing that she wanted me gone, and I wasn't.

But the main reason was dad, partly it was a stupid desire to rebel, ironically enough, he wanted me out of Winslow, even if I had nowhere else to go, he was determined to keep me away from Winslow.

But the main reason, only reason really was that I didn't want him worry, I wanted to show him that I wasn't his little princess, who he could protect from all the shit in the world, neither made sense when I actually thought about it, but I had made up my mind, and changing it would be a sign of weakness.

So to distract myself I went back to counting the bugs in range in powers of 2.

_32768, 65536, 131072,_

_Bored_

Today had been a good day, all taken.

Sure Sophia had tripped me, then Madison mocked me for my clumsy feet.

Sure _Someone _had organised that all the ham and pineapple pizzas, my favourites, had gone at lunch.

Sure...a million other annoyances, trouble and even a simple refusal to acknowledge my presence.

But now I could get back to making my costume, and as I stood in the dank cellar, and watched as hundreds of black widow spiders wove new parts, all in perfect synchronisation, I felt pride, maybe that this was something I had done, something I had planned.

For now all I had were the inner half of the gloves, being made out of only spider silk meant that they were produced a lot faster than the rest, which required cured carapaces and far more silk than my small colony currently provided.

Still, it was proceeding far faster than I thought, as long as the spiders weren't killed the mask, chest and legs should be done in a few months and the rest should be done before the end of April.

In some ways it would be a relief, and in others...no, it would get her out of school, away from Sophia and especially Emma.

All cape life could do was kill her, and if that was the bet cape life could do, then she relished the challenge.

After all, her life was already a living hell, how could a new life be worse?

**All right, I admit, I forgot, been busy reading up on other (better) worm Fanfics, specifically Silencio, Copacetic, A tale of transmigration (all on space battles .net) seriously guys, if you haven't read those, then go, read, enjoy then come back here, because I will never be as good as they are.**

**Now updates will be even slower, even this is really naughty of me, but I hope to get on last, far longer, chapter, this time featuring Susan, remember her?**


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